The Times That Never Were
by Almariado
Summary: Before Newton gets to Peter, a mysterious stranger intercepts him, changing the course of the events we saw on the show. Set on the end of "Northwest Passage" goes AU from there. (10/11/2014 Chapter 4 up. Chapters 1 to 3 reposted, only reformatted and minor misspellings corrected, no need to read them again. Also chapters were renamed)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Nop they're not mine, just playing with them.  
A/N: This takes place in the end of season's two "Northwest Passage" episode, before Newton gets to Peter, it goes AU from there.  
Big thanks go to Crystalline Green, she was more than a beta reader, she corrected and gave suggestions that improved the story a lot.  
Without her this story would never have seen the light of day.  
Any mistakes you find are totally mine, Crys can only do so much.**  
**I'm not a native English speaker, so expect misspellings and other kind of errors.**

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**Chapter 1 - Prologue:**

She walked through the woods almost stumbling on a root, looking up at the sky while crossing a forest in Washington State could do that to you.  
Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the blue of the sky. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was shining, pouring its rays through the trees giving an ethereal look to the landscape in front of her.  
She stopped and closed her eyes, she took a deep breath savouring the fresh air which invaded her lungs and the oxygen intoxicated her.  
If she ended up in the wrong place, then it was not so bad, because she thought this must be what heaven looked like.  
But she couldn't stop to enjoy it. She resumed her fast pace headed for her target, she could not fail, she would not fail, everything they had fought for, all the planning they had done, every sacrifice made and life lost, would only be honoured and made worthwhile if she succeeded in this mission. She would see it through no matter what, only death could stop her and she had stopped fearing death a long time ago.

She finally reached the motel where she knew he was staying, she sat down not far from his room, waiting for him. If her intel was correct it wouldn't be long until he arrived.A shiver of anticipation ran through her, she was really going to come face to face with him. She felt wetness on her cheeks and wiped it away. She could not let her emotions take hold of her. She took a deep cleansing breath and prepared herself for what lay ahead.

* * *

Peter stepped out of the car and thanked Ann for the ride.  
He headed to his room, his thoughts lingering on Ann's words. Finding a place he could call his own.  
For years he thought he didn't need such a thing. He was pretty much ok with wondering from place to place only staying long enough to pull a job that would get him through for a few months, until it was time to leave and look somewhere else, for something else, never stopping, always moving.

Until Olivia.

She changed everything. She changed him, or maybe she had just drawn out of him what was there all along, hidden behind the bitterness and the anger of having a mad scientist for a father who had been absent most of the time - even before he was locked up in a mental institution - and being brought up by a mother who he now knows just couldn't handle being left alone with a copy of her long dead son.

Until a few weeks ago he thought he had finally settled down, had found a place he could call home.  
And he had Olivia to thank for that. She had given him a home and a family.  
He couldn't help but think that she must have known the truth, she would have found out right after Jacksonville.  
That would explain everything.  
He remembered the night they had returned from Jacksonville like it had happened yesterday.  
He had felt butterflies in his stomach when she said yes to a night out with him once they came back from New York and this on the same day he almost kissed her.  
He remembered the thrill of anticipation and how nervous he was when he was getting ready to meet her. He felt like a teenager about to go on his first date. They had gone out for drinks before, but that night was going to be different, he was going to stop holding back on his feelings for her.

But nothing went as he expected. She was clearly nervous and uncomfortable, he could tell it wasn't for the same reason he was, she kept avoiding looking at him and after a few drinks she excused herself telling him she was tired from the trip and needed rest. She had clearly regretted saying yes to him. Back then he had accepted it thinking she didn't want the same things he did, as much has it hurt him acknowledging it. They would remain friends none the less.

Now he knew the real reason behind her change of demeanour. She had said yes to him with a smile on her face, a smile full of promise of what was to come. But she must have figured it out when she came to meet him at his house, so she had retreated and raised her walls once again.  
How could he blame her? Who would want to be romantically involved with an ex-con man from another universe?  
She already had too much craziness in her life, she could do without adding to that with a boyfriend from another world.  
He had been tempted to answer her numerous calls after he left Boston, before he threw his phone away.  
He even thought about calling her several times after that, at least to say goodbye. He knew how she must have felt guilty from keeping the truth from him. He wanted so much to tell her that he wasn't angry at her. That he understood that she was caught up in the middle of a fucked up situation that was not her fault, and that blame belonged with the man he had thought was his real father, who was in fact his kidnapper and who had been lying to him all his life.

But he knew he couldn't, because if he heard her voice, if she asked him to come back he would be unable to say no.  
But he can't go back, the thought of being in the same room, even in the same town with the man he once knew as his father, sickens him.  
By now Broyles must have told Olivia where he was, so he knew he didn't have much time before she would arrive there. He had to go once again, because seeing her would be unbearable.  
Deep in thought, he hardly noticed the young woman standing not far from the door to his room.

"Peter Bishop?" she asks as she approaches him, but she already knows the answer.  
He was startled by it, he quickly turns to see a young blond woman in her early 20's. He wasn't expecting this.  
"Who are you? What do you want? Did Broyles send you?" he asks her with a deep frown on his face.  
She raised her hands in a sign of surrender, trying to make him understand that she wasn't a threat to him.  
"No, Broyles didn't send me, I swear that I come in peace. I just need to talk to you. It's very important that you listen to what I have to say. I came a long way just to do this, many people risked their lives so I could be here."  
Peter was now puzzled by what the young woman had said, the pleading look she gave him reminded him so much of another blond woman just like her, in another time and another place.  
"Risked their lives? What are you talking about? And you still didn't tell me who you are."  
"No I didn't," she paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "My name is Henrietta, Henrietta Bishop. But you can call me Etta."

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**A/N This is actually a reboot of season 5. The story will have two parts.**  
**Part one (the next chapters) will take place in the future invaded by the Observers and will explain the events that brought Etta to this point of the original time line.**  
**The second part will pick up immediately after the prologue.**  
**I know Etta is from the reset timeline (Season 4) and I'm putting her in the original timeline. It will all be explained.**  
**Remember, this is sci-fi.**  
**I hope it will all make sense and it's not too confusing.**  
**The plot of the story is pretty much laid out and I do intend to finish it.**


	2. The Raid

**_(Part 1 - The Future)_  
Chapter 2 - The Raid:**

_Boston 2035 – 20 years after the Observer's invasion_

"Will you hurry up, please?" Eddie was definitely not happy with his cousin.  
They had stormed the Loyalist facility with some ease due to the low number of guards posted to it. The resistance had received a tip about a small shipment of anti-matter grenades which had been delivered to the facility 'by mistake'. Apparently one of their informants with the Loyalists manage to displace the shipment.  
Simon Foster's resistance group which Etta and Eddie were part off, quickly came up with a plan to ensure the grenades would not reach their original destination. They knew they hadn't much time before the mistake would be discovered.  
"Don't be such a girl, I'm almost there," Etta continued to furiously type in the holographic terminal, not even bothering looking at him.  
After taking care of the few guards and securing the facility almost single handed, Etta noticed that the old building was nothing more than a kind of warehouse, decrepit and gloomy with only two small windows, caked with years' worth of grime which prevented most of what little daylight they had nowadays from getting in. There where boxes with uniforms, chairs and desks piled up and other meaningless items of no consequence to them.  
But the facility did have something else that raised her interest. There was a small office with four terminals which the loyalists used for inventory, one of them was still logged in as a member of loyalist personnel had been working there when they arrived, consulting a list with masses of data. The odd thing about the list was that instead of items, it contained addresses. Her curiosity spiked when she noticed the familiarity of three of the locations displayed on screen. She had visited each of them before, looking for her parents.  
It was a list of ambered locations, containing information of an enormous number of sites covering New England and part of New York State. The loyalist had confessed, before Etta knocked him out, that he was doing side businesses with the amber gypsies.

There was a legend running around the resistance that the original Fringe team had ambered themselves in a secret location in order to evade capture by the Observers. The legend had been around for quite some time and a few people still believed in it.  
For Etta it was not a legend, it was the truth, no matter what her aunt Rachel had told her all those years ago about her parents being dead.  
Etta was not about to let this opportunity slip by her, she stayed behind after their group left to load their precious shipment, trying to copy the encrypted list to a small disk. Only Eddie remained with her.

"Everyone's gone! We're the only ones left and we don't know if the guards managed to send a message to their headquarters warning the place was being attacked. If they did, the facility will be swarming with loyalists in no time Etta! And if we're really 'lucky' the baldies will come right behind once they figure out what it was we stole." Eddie paused waiting for a reaction from his cousin. But she gave none, instead she focused only on continuing her mission, almost oblivious to her surroundings.  
"You may be able to deflect their readings, but I don't feel like having my brain turned into mush today. I very much appreciate the ability to think and I would definitely like to live to see another day."  
This got Etta's attention, "Don't worry couz, nothing's going to happen if they read you, because there's no brain in that pretty head of yours," she said with a grin, still focused on the task at hand.  
Eddie looked at her, rolling his eyes. "You're right, I have no brain. 'Cause if I had one I would be long gone and you would be left here to face them on your own."  
Etta removed the small disk from the terminal and turned to her cousin, giving him a pat on the arm.  
"You're brainless and adorable, that's the only reason I let you hang around."

They were about to leave when someone stepped into the open doorway blocking their way out. They quickly raised their weapons taking aim at the silhouetted figure, ready to take him out if necessary.  
The intruder quickly raised his hands in a sign of surrender, "It's me, Mike! Don't shoot!" he said with panic in his voice.  
Etta shook her head and glared, "Talk about brainless people. Nice way to almost meet your creator, Mickey boy. Try that again and you'll no longer need to be afraid of being read by an Observer."  
"Simon sent me. Jesus Etta, don't be such a bitch! He asked me to tell you if you guys don't get your asses in the van right now, you'll be on your own."  
"If you move that big ass of yours out of the way, we'll be right there." Etta said moving towards the exit. She leant into Mike's ear on her way out. "Call me bitch one more time, I'd really like that."  
Eddie followed, shooting him a glare, "You're lucky she's in a good mood." They quickly exited the facility and made their way to the waiting van, where a very agitated Simon was waiting for them. He turned to face them as they clambered in the back, throwing Etta a very annoyed look. "We'll talk when we get to the hideout. Let's move!"  
The driver hit the accelerator pulling away from the facility. They made their way through the streets and alleys of Boston, changing vehicles to avoid being detected, the journey only took twenty minutes before they arrived at their destination.

Their hideout was a drycleaners, with easy access to a network of alleys from the back. The business was just a front for the resistance hideout. Not many people had money or inclination to bother with dry-cleaning clothes these days, but it was still a good way to hide in plain sight. The irony of it was that it was a profitable business because many loyalists and what remained of the upper class of their crumbling society, were clients. It also allowed the coming and going of vans and trucks without raising much suspicion.  
With the speed and efficiency of practiced teamwork, they unloaded the precious cargo and hid the van in the building's garage. Simon signalled to both Etta and Eddie to follow him.

Once they reached Simon's makeshift office, he closed the door and turned to the pair. "The next time you pull a stunt like that I won't even bother sending someone to get you, I'll just leave you there!"  
Eddie looked to the floor embarrassed, while Etta stared at Simon with an unreadable look on her face.  
"Now if you'd care to explain what was so interesting about that terminal to make you risk our operation?"  
Etta remained stoic. The silence was heavy, Eddie knew Etta wouldn't flinch and that Simon wouldn't rest until he got some answers. He scratched worriedly at his one day stubble. "We saw some intel there that may be useful to the resistance and..."  
Etta put a hand on is arm. "It's ok Eddie," she said giving him a small smile. She turned her attention back to Simon. "I was copying a list of ambered locations"  
Simon let out a breath in frustration.  
"Your crusade to look for you dead parents will cost you your life someday Etta! Worse still you will probably take someone else with you. And you Eddie, if you have a death wish like your cousin here, then by all means, be my guest! But you will not do it while on a mission headed by me. You will not put my team on the line because you want to chase after some fucking ghosts!"  
Etta's blank look transformed quickly, her anger rising as Simon struck a raw nerve, "My parents are not dead," she said with a low but threatening voice, her rage threatening to boil over. Eddie grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze trying to calm her down.  
Sensing Etta's barely contained fury, Simon took a deep breath before he continued, "Etta, you're a damn good fighter, one of my best. That's the only reason I haven't kicked you out so far, but you're pushing too hard," he shakes his head and looks at her with sadness in his eyes, "you have to let them go Etta, they're gone. You're wasting time and energy in a futile quest, I can't afford to lose you, let alone allow you to jeopardise anyone else."  
Etta looked Simon in the eyes for a few seconds, she hated it when people tried to talk her out of her search for her parents. Of all people, hearing it from Simon, it hurt her the most. She had always admired him since the moment they met, his strong sense of justice and the fact that he was always level-headed even in the worst situations, which gave her confidence in following his orders.  
She wished he could understand that while there was a shred of hope her parents were alive, even if it was some godforsaken legend, she had to keep searching.  
"Is that all?" she asked coldly.  
Simon let out a breath, clearly disappointed. He knew how driven she was. Telling her to stop looking for her parents would be as productive as trying to put out a forest wildfire with a water pistol. So he waved her off.  
Etta stormed out of Simon's office without another word. Eddie was about to follow when Simon turned to him, "Try your best to control her Eddie. There's only so much I can do to protect her. Being a Fringe Agent doesn't mean I can always have her back."  
Eddie nodded and gave him a small smile. "I always try." he said with a sad shake of his head before he took his leave to look for Etta.

He found her outside, near their vehicle, where she was studying the small disk she had brought back from the Loyalist facility. She sensed his approach and turned to him. "When I decrypt the intel I copied to the disk, I'll show him who's a ghost," she looked back at the disk, like if it was the most precious thing she had held in her entire life. "This is a list of locations with ambered people, many of them I didn't know about. There's a chance my parents are trapped within one of them."  
Eddie looked at her intently. After Ella died at the hands of the Loyalists, Etta became even more driven in the search for her parents. He knows how much she missed Ella, he missed his big sister too.  
He guessed this was her way of coping with her cousin's death.  
His aunt Liv had sent Etta to Chicago to live with them right after the invasion when she was three years old. She was pratically raised with them, they were like brother and sisters.  
Ella's death took a heavy toll on them, especially on Etta.  
She also could not accept that her parents were forever lost to her, not when most of the people she loved were already gone. Her cousin, her grandfather Walter and her aunt Astrid, from whom they hadn't had any communication in years. Eddie thought they too must be dead by now.  
He didn't have the heart to deny her, he knew that it was what kept her going. If she stopped, if she believed they were dead, then all hope would be gone.  
Eddie knew that Etta believed that her parents were the key to defeating the baldy bastards and without them, it would be pointless.  
From Etta's point of view, the resistance was outnumbered, out gunned and were nowhere near strong enough to defeat the Observers. They just kept on fighting because there was really nothing else they could do. They were just a group of people who refused to give up, even if it was a futile effort.

There was something almost religious in Etta's belief that her parents would 'rise' from the dead and defeat the Observers, like a messiah sent from God to save humanity from their impending doom. Without that belief Eddie knew she would just give up.  
So he indulged her in her mad quest.

When Eddie was a kid, when there were still some books around, he remembered his mother reading to him the children's version of the book by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha. The delusional nobleman from 17th century Spain, who thought he was a Knight and lived by the code of chivalry, followed by his faithful squire, the humble farmer Sancho Panza. He remembered listening in awe as his mother would read to him about their adventures, most of them fantasies from Don Quijote's deluded mind.  
The most famous off all, their encounter with the windmills, which Don Quijote thought were dangerous giants. Against Sancho's warnings Don Quijote still charged against the windmills and even knowing it was a fools errand, Sancho followed him. Eddie couldn't understand why Sancho would go with him in a such demented journey. His mother would tell him that real friends would support and help each other, no matter the mistakes they made. Even if you know they're wrong and that they might end up getting hurt 'tilting at windmills'.  
Right now, he is Etta's Sancho.

Eddie was deep in thought when a man approached them, he was in his late 40's, maybe early 50's, and his once blonde hair had now almost entirely replaced by grey. "Can I help you?" Eddie asked.  
The man paused, regarding them both with a tilt of his head, as if sizing them up. "I was wondering if I could have a word with you both, in private."  
Etta frowned noticing the odd way the man tilted his head. She then asked, "You're Donald, right, the tech guy Simon brought in last week?"  
"Yes that is correct."  
"What's so important that you have to talk to us in private?"  
Donald looked around making sure no one was listening in, "I used to work with your grandfather, Walter Bishop."

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**A/N Thank you to everyone that reviewed, fallowed or just read this story. I hope I don't disappoint anyone.**  
**Like I said before, this chapter and the next ones will take place in the future invaded by the Observers and will explain the events that brought Etta to the past. I'll try to keep it short so the story resumes as soon as possible right after Etta intercepts Peter. Remember this is Season 5 AU**  
**Once again many many thanks go to the amazing Crystalline Green, she is much more than a beta, without her corrections and suggestions this story would have been far worse and probably would never been published.**


	3. Losing Hope

**A/N Crystalline Green you rock! As always all mistakes are mine, don't blame poor Crys.**

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**Chapter 3 - Losing Hope...:**

Eddie fidgeted, he felt on edge and exposed. No one but Simon Foster knew their true identities. To everyone else they were Edward and Henrietta Patterson, brother and sister. Eddie was caught off guard by Donald's assertion, and he didn't like the feeling one bit.  
Eddie pulled his gun, levelling it at the stranger. "Who the hell are you?"  
"I have no intention of causing you any arm. I will explain everything, but not here. We can go to any place you would like," Donald replied raising his hands. His tone was calm, almost monotonic. It oddly reminded Eddie of the way the Observers spoke.  
"It's ok Eddie," Etta approached Donald looking him in the eye, freezing him with an icy blue glare. "Stand still," she ordered then gave him a quick pat down searching for weapons, satisfying herself that the man was not carrying any. "He's clear," she called to Eddie. "Now, get in the car."  
Eddie held the back door open and ushered him inside, motioning with a twitch of his gun for Donald to move over, he climbed in after him leaving Etta to drive. She started the car and moved off, knowing exactly where they could talk without being disturbed.  
"Ok, start talking" Eddie said still pointing his weapon at Donald.  
Donald cocked his head to one side and looked at Eddie, ignoring the threat of the gun. He then turned his attention to the rear-view mirror, eyeing Etta through it. "I do not know how much you know about what happened when your parents died".  
Etta's expression went from one of curiosity to anger in less than a second. She hit the brakes hard stopping the car. "Get out!" she spat.  
Donald ignored Etta's words and continued, "I noticed this past week that you are still looking for them. Please believe me, they are dead. They were betrayed by a member of the resistance - someone they trusted fully - before we could implement our plan to defeat the Observers."  
"I said get out!" Etta was gripping the steering wheel hard, trying to control herself.  
"I can prove it to you."  
Eddie grabbed his cousin's shoulder reassuringly hoping to calm her, then he turned his attention to their passenger sitting next to him. "Elaborate on it."  
Donald gave a small nod, thanking Eddie for his intervention.

"When the Observers invaded, the original Fringe team quickly became the head of the resistance. They also became the biggest threat to the invaders plans," he paused, trying to summon the memories of a time long gone. "We had a plan, if we had managed to see it through, the Observers would have been defeated."  
Eddie looked to Donald with genuine curiosity. Etta was still holding the wheel, but she had lessened her grip on it.  
"To protect the plan only a few trusted people were informed of it and even then, those people only knew part of the whole plan. The Fringe team were the only ones that knew everything." He looked out of the window, took a breath and turned back before resuming his tale, "We also knew that the Observers were actively looking for us, we had to vacate your grandfather's lab at Harvard, as it was a known location and not safe there."  
"You keep saying we," Eddie interrupted, "to my knowledge, the original Fringe team was composed of my aunt Liv, uncle Peter, his father – Walter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth and their boss Philip Broyles."  
"And you are correct," Donald paused for a while considering what he should say next. He worried that revealing that he was a former Observer at this time could make things worse. He opted to proceed with caution, "I joined them right before the invasion and I helped devise the plan along with Etta's grandfather, Walter Bishop."  
"We also staged a hoax to avert the Observer's attention. We made precise replicas in silicone of the Fringe team and ambered them in a 'supposed' secret location, then we started a rumour about the Fringe team having ambered themselves in order to escape the invaders."  
"The irony of it is that they never found them."

Etta, who had been silent hearing Donald's tale, turned her head and looked him the eye. "If what you are telling is true, then you know that location."  
"Yes I do."  
"Take us there. Now."  
Eddie looked in disbelief at his cousin. "You cannot be serious Etta! It could be a trap!"  
"I assure you it is not a trap, I have no wish to deceive you."  
"You don't have to come Eddie," Etta said with her mind already set on what to do next.  
"The hell I don't! I'm not letting you go there alone," Eddie huffed in frustration, he knew she would go with or without him.  
"Good, we have to make a stop before we get there, I want to grab some supplies." Etta restarted the car and quickly drove to their apartment.

"Stay here with him Eddie, I'll be back in a sec," Etta said pulling up to the kerb.  
"Fine," Eddie replied raising an eyebrow, clearly annoyed but also worried about what his cousin and this strange man were getting them into. His thoughts spiralled while he waited for her to return. Mercifully Etta was quick, hefting two backpacks into the trunk.  
She didn't need to tell Eddie what was inside, he knew she kept the laser cutter, the buffer and the crowd control device which Simon had dubbed the 'wand' - all essential kit for freeing people trapped within amber – in those packs which were ready to go at all times. She would certainly want them with her once they reached this particular ambered location.  
"Ok, what's the address?"  
"It is in the basement of a warehouse in Oxford Street, Somerville."  
They drove there in silence, Eddie casting glances at Donald, still suspicious of his intentions. It wasn't far from where they were and it took them only 10 minutes, besides, traffic jams were a thing of the past.

They arrived before sunset, giving them almost three hours before curfew.  
The place was a big red brick building, two storeys high. From the fading letters on the sign in front it had once been an auto parts business. The broken glass in the windows offered proof that it hadn't had occupants in years.  
Etta took three flash-lights from one of the backpacks handing one each to her cousin and Donald, keeping the third for herself.  
Donald walked in front of them, opening the door that lead them inside, then he went straight to a small office on the left. "The resistance used this warehouse for storage, but it was abandoned before we came up with the amber hoax." He stood next to a cabinet putting his hands on one of its sides ready to push. "Help me with this, the entrance to the basement is behind it."  
Eddie quickly dropped the backpack he was carrying and helped Donald shift the cabinet aside. As soon as they cleared the entrance Etta dropped the other backpack and went through it, not wanting to wait for them.

She reached the bottom of the stairs leading into the basement in a heartbeat, she panned her flash-light to her right and was met with a yellow glow reflecting off the amber encasing almost the entire area. She stopped in her tracks looking at it.  
Four human figures were trapped within the golden substance. She approached slowly, looking intently at the closest of them. It was a face she had almost forgotten, the last time she had seen him she had been a seven year old child and fifteen years had passed since then. The man was her father, Peter Bishop.

She hardly noticed a tear flowing down her face.

Then she looked at the blond woman standing beside him. She raised one hand, caressing the amber that separated her from her mother. "You're so beautiful," she murmurs leaning against the amber encasing Olivia.  
Etta recalled moments from her childhood when she meet her parents from time to time. After she was sent to Chicago to live with her aunt Rachel, they came every chance they had, but she knew they had to be careful to avoid leading the Observers to her. Usually she would see them only once or twice a year. The last time had been when she was seven.  
Only two months after that final meeting, a man showed up at their home claiming to have been sent by her grandfather Walter. He was the one who had brought the news of her parents' death. He also gave them new identities and supplied all the documents required to support them. After that they moved to Portland, Walter's contact had insisted upon it because staying in Chicago was no longer safe, someone in the resistance had betrayed her parents and no one knew how much the traitor had been able to tell the Loyalists, and of course any information they had would immediately be passed on to the Observers.

Latter, once Ella had started to help the resistance in Portland, the rumour about the original Fringe team was still circulating and soon reached her cousin's ears. When Etta heard about it, she swore that as soon as she was old enough, she would go back to Boston in order to find them.  
She did so, soon after Ella's death at the hands of the Loyalists. Eddie refused to let her go by herself, so he went with her to Boston, much to Rachel's distress.  
Now, after all these years, she hoped beyond hope that she was finally in the presence of her parents once more.

"Dear God." Eddie said from the bottom of the stairs, the two backpacks discarded on the floor at his feet. Donald was right behind him.  
He wished that Donald wasn't telling the truth, that this was really a trap, he could have dealt with that. But this he doesn't know how to deal with, it would destroy Etta. He walked towards his cousin and put a hand on her shoulder. "Etta we better go, there's no point cutting these things out of the amber."  
She turns to him, desperate pleading in her eyes. "But maybe he is wrong Eddie, maybe it's really them." Eddie doesn't remember ever seeing his cousin looking so vulnerable. "Please Eddie, I have to know..."  
He gives her a sad smile. "Ok Etta." As much as he wishes to grab her and get her the hell out of there, he indulges her.  
Eddie takes one of the backpacks and removes the contents. Donald joins him and they start assembling the laser that would cut through the amber.  
Etta reached for the second backpack and took out the buffer device that would temporarily cause the amber to revert to its gaseous state. "Start cutting next to my father, it's the easiest way to get to them. Make it big enough so I can get in there to release them with the wand."  
It took them almost half an hour to cut away a big enough area for them to attempt to release her father. They calibrated the buffer and Etta grabbed the wand then stood in the space they cut directly behind her father so he would be ejected into a cleared area once the buffer was activated and the wand was discharged.  
Eddie finished programming the buffer and positioned himself so whoever or whatever they were going to release wasn't about to crash into him.

"Ok the buffer is ready. On three Etta, One… Two… Three."  
Eddie activated the buffer forming a cloud of gas in front of them, Etta quickly discharged the wand. She held her breath watching the human figure being ejected from the amber, which then collapsed on the floor and bounced inanimate.  
Etta stared numbly at the silicone doll created to resemble her father, she dropped the wand and sat beside it caressing its hair with her hand. When Eddie knelt beside her she looked at him tear faced. "I'm not going to see them ever again Eddie, they're really dead."  
He embraced her and placed a kiss in her hair. There was nothing he could say which make this any easier, he could only offer her the comfort of his embrace.  
The sobs began and Etta let them come, because there was no hope left.

Donald watched the pair; he saw the girl succumbing to the reality of her parents' death and pondered on what to do next. Finally he approached them and knelt beside Etta. "I am very sorry, I had no wish to cause you such discomfort."  
Eddie eyed him, he knew it was not Donald's fault, but just then he was sure as hell blaming him for his cousin distress. He felt like punching him.  
"There is someone that would very much like to see you. I am certain she will be able to answer many of the questions you have about your parents."  
Now Eddie is really regretting not punching the guy before he had the chance to open his mouth. "Don't you think you've done enough?"  
Etta raises her head from Eddie's shoulder, "It's ok Eddie," she says wiping away her tears on her sleeve. She looked to Donald, "Who is 'she'?"

"Astrid Farnsworth."


	4. And Finding It Again

**Chapter 4 - ...And Finding It Again:**

Donald directed them to the place where Astrid was supposed to be. The ride was made in silence, Etta hadn't said a word since they left the warehouse. Eddie drove, throwing occasional glances at both Etta and Donald. Etta was in the passenger side, her head leaning against the window, a blank look on her face. Donald took the back seat once again, he looked undisturbed, like nothing that just had happened affected him.  
Eddie's thoughts lingered on their mysterious passenger. Until now everything he'd told them had been true, but still it wasn't enough for Eddie to fully trust him. Too many questions remained unanswered. Why did he show up after all these years? Why now? Did he have an ulterior motive? And what was the 'plan' that apparently failed because of his aunt and uncle's deaths?  
Eddie watched him through the rear-view mirror, his head was turned to the window, absently looking at the streets passing by.  
"Tell me about the plan." Eddie asked.  
Donald looked at him, "Pardon me?"  
"The plan you told us about, the one that was aborted when my Uncle and Aunt died."  
"Very well." Donald put his hands on his lap. "In order for you to understand, I must first explain to you about the Observers."  
Eddie kept is eyes on the road, but is attention was fully on Donald's words.  
"They are human like us and as you may know they came from the future, more precisely from 27th century. They have a higher intellect and most of their emotions have been repressed or are non-existent."  
Donald paused for a few seconds, taking a quick glance through the window. Then he resumed his narrative.  
"In the year 2167 a Norwegian scientist developed a method to enhance human intelligence through genetic manipulation. But it came at the price of sacrificing emotions, at least most of them. That was the beginning of the Observers"  
"Ok, but what's that got to do with the plan? Were you planning on going to the future to kill the scientist that created the baldies?" Eddie asked with a snort.  
"We planned on travelling to the future, but not to kill the scientist."  
"Then what were you going to do?"  
"We would take with us a child observer."  
"A what?"  
"A child that came from the same century as the Observers, one who was not supposed to exist."  
"And why was that?"  
"Because he was an anomaly."  
"An anomaly? What do you mean?"  
"He had the same intellect as the Observers, perhaps even more, but he maintained all the emotions that normal humans had. He was living proof that achieving a higher intellect was possible without sacrificing emotion. If we had succeeded in travelling with him to the year 2167, we could have proved to the scientist that he was wrong, that the development of a higher intellect was possible without the sacrifice of emotions. Hence preventing the development of the Observers as we know them today."  
"I see." Eddie remained silent for a few minutes absorbing everything Donald had revealed to them.  
"What happened to the child?" Eddie was startled by Etta's question, he had been so focused on Donald's words that he failed to notice that his cousin had come out from her slumber and was also paying attention to their conversation.  
"He was killed on the same occasion as your parents."  
"How?"  
"We had almost everything ready to fulfil the plan. Your parents were with two trusted resistance members. They were moving the child to the pre-established location, a soft-spot Walter had chosen where the time travel would be initiated. However, they had been betrayed by one of the resistance members accompanying them and were ambushed by loyalists and observers. The informant killed the child himself, before your mother shot him. They were outnumbered and were unable to resist the attack on them. As a final act of defiance, your father detonated an anti-matter grenade, preventing them from being captured and being subjected to interrogation."  
"We only know this because Sam Weiss, a good friend of your mother, was the other resistance member that was with them. Your parents managed to create a diversion in order for him to escape so he could warn us about what had happened. According to Sam, your mother wanted your father to go with him, but he refused to leave her alone. They died together."  
Eddie glanced at Etta. She had gone back at staring through the window, immersed in her thoughts, processing everything Donald had told them.  
"Take the next street on the left, the apartment is in the 3rd building on the right."  
Eddie did as Donald asked, parking in front of the building. They left the car heading for an old building which had seen better days. Like in any of the 'Native' residential areas, the buildings on the street hadn't received maintenance of any kind in years. The one to which Donald was now directing them was no exception.

Working elevators were a thing of the past in these kind of buildings, therefore people generally avoided occupying the top floors. Donald led the way to the stairs, finally stopping when he reached the 3rd floor. "This way," he said taking a set of keys from his pocket, continuing on to the second door on the left. He unlocked it and allowed it to swing inwards, revealing the interior of the apartment.  
A large living room stood before them. Two doors on each side wall lead to the other four divisions of the apartment. It was sparsely furnished, but it was clearly well taken care off.  
A woman with dark skin and curly hair appeared from one of the side doors. "Donald, I was getting worried. What took you so long?" she asked.  
"Hello Astrid. There is someone here to see you."  
Etta was frozen, still standing in the doorway. She immediately recognized the woman in front of her even though the last time she had seen her in person, Etta had only been very little, before she had moved to Chicago to live with her aunt. She remembered her very well.  
More recently, Etta had painstakingly searched for all the material she could get her hands on about the original Fringe Team. She had read every report there was about them and looked over every picture she had been able to find. She knew the woman in front of her - although older than she remembered or had been in the pictures she had seen - was without a doubt, FBI's Fringe Division Agent, Astrid Farnsworth.  
"Aunt Astrid?" Etta asked in a small voice.  
Astrid's face broke from the stare she had, until then, held the young woman under. "Oh my God, it's really you." She said with tears in her eyes, taking a step towards Etta.  
"You look so much like her." Astrid whispered, tentatively reaching for her. Etta smiled, opening her arms as she stepped in to the embrace. They hugged for some time, taking comfort in the re-establishment of contact after such a long time.

Eddie watched the interaction between the two women. He had heard about Astrid Farnsworth many times before, actually meeting her on a few occasions before the invasion when visiting his aunt Liv. But the memories of those times were fuzzy, like they had happened in another lifetime.  
"My grandfather, what happened to him?" Etta asked when they finally broke the embrace.  
"He passed away a few years after your parents died, sweetie. I'm sorry." Astrid said, motioning Etta and Eddie to sit down on the sofa. Donald took a seat on the loveseat next to Astrid.  
"It's ok," Etta gave a sad smile, unable to hide the sadness and grief at hearing the news about her grandfather.  
"He wasn't the same after he lost your parents. It took an enormous toll on him."  
"And you?" Etta questioned, "What happened to you after my parents died?"  
"We had to run. We weren't sure how much the Observers knew about us or our hiding places. Your grandfather sent Sam Weiss to Chicago, he was the only one Walter trusted after the betrayal we suffered. He took with him new IDs for you and your Aunt Rachel's family with instructions to move all of you to somewhere safe. We weren't sure if he had made it because we never heard from him again."  
"He did, he helped us move to Portland then settled us into a new life where we became the Patterson's. But we lost contact with him soon after we were fully established, we never saw him again."  
Astrid nodded, "Sam Weiss was a good man." She was grateful that Sam had been able to protect Olivia's family, she was proud of him for his selfless act which may well have cost him his life.  
"We went to Philadelphia where Sam was supposed to meet up with us, but he never made it. From then on we just didn't stay in the same place for very long. We always chose small towns and avoided big cities, moving on every few months."  
"Your grandfather refused any form of contact with the resistance after that. He became very suspicious of anyone besides Donald or myself. After he passed away, we headed further south and ended up in a small town in North Carolina. We stayed there a few years and only moved a couple of times until we came back to Boston a few months ago."  
"Why did you decide to come back?" Eddie asked.  
"Because something happened in Brookneal, Virginia. It was the last town we were living in before we came back to Boston," Donald answered interrupting Astrid. "I was working in the town's morgue, when one day 3 bodies arrived, 2 loyalists and one Observer. They had been discovered in the woods."  
"They must have been taken by a surprise attack, because the resistance activity in that region was, until then, non-existent. Even loyalists were a very rare sight there and this was the first Observer we ever encountered in Brookneal"  
"A dead one at that." Astrid said with a look of contempt.  
Donald resumed his narrative, "The bodies remained unclaimed for five days before someone came to retrieve them, giving me a chance to perform a detailed examination of the body of the Observer."  
"You found something." Etta said, more an affirmation than a question.  
"Yes, a genetic mutation. One which should not have been possible."  
"But you said before that they were genetically altered to have an enhanced intellect. Wouldn't a genetic mutation be expected? Or even several?" Eddie leaned forward from where he was sitting, fully engrossed on the narrative.  
"Not this one."  
"Why not?"  
"Because this was never present in the original Observers."  
Etta looked surprised. "Original Observers? What do you mean by that?"  
Donald and Astrid exchanged glances. Astrid got up reaching for Etta's hand and grabbing it.  
"It's getting late dear, and it's almost curfew. Why don't you both stay with us tonight, I have a spare bed in my bedroom, Etta, you can sleep there. Eddie can take the couch, it's actually very comfortable. We'll explain everything to you over dinner. Believe me, it's a very long and complicated story."  
Donald nodded in agreement. "Yes, we should start from the beginning, before Henrietta's father stepped into the Machine and the timeline was rewritten."  
"What?!" Eddie and Etta said in unison.

* * *

They spent dinner listening to Astrid and Donald telling about the original timeline, how the Observers originally interfered by accident setting in motion a series of events that had led to Walter kidnapping Peter from the Alternate Universe, starting a war against the other side.  
They told of how the Fringe team had been assembled when Olivia had first forced her way into the fray and then brought Peter in from Iraq, in order to gain access to Walter in her desperate attempt to save John Scott.  
They filled in the key events that had unfolded after that; How Peter travelled to the other side after discovering his true origins and how Olivia had gone after him to warn him about his biological father's true intentions.  
How she had been captured and then duped while on the other side. The ordeal she had gone through over there and how hard it had become for Peter and Olivia when she finally made it back, almost destroying their relationship.  
They told them how Peter had stepped into the machine building the Bridge between the two Universes and how he got himself erased from the new timeline, but that Olivia's connection to him was so strong that in spite of everything, he had been drawn back, even though she herself hadn't remembered him in the beginning.  
Etta and Eddie where astonished hearing their hosts narrative.

"Ok, that is one hell of a story," Eddie finally said after a few seconds taking in all that he had heard, "but you still haven't explained to us who the original Observers were or why they are apparently so important."  
After a brief hesitation Donald replied, "I was one of them,"  
The cousins gasped and both looked at Donald, then to Astrid, who was nodding confirming Donald's revelation.  
"He was indeed an Observer, Walter helped him remove his tech just before the invasion. The other Observers were hunting him and the only way they could locate him was through his tech, so he asked for Walter's help. He also went through a treatment regime to become more like us. Donald was always on our side, since the beginning."  
Donald gave a small smile to Astrid, then resumed his story. "Our society developed a way to travel through time with the help of a device that was implanted into the brain."  
"The tech?" Eddie interjected.  
"That is correct," Donald said nodding, "A science team consisting of 12 members was formed in order to study the past. Each was given the codename of a month, mine was September. Our goal was to observe key events through the centuries, to record them in order to compile an accurate archive of human history. We were given the only 12 devices that were produced so we could accomplish our goal."  
"We were also able to determine possible outcomes and consequences that a single event would cause in a given timeline. Or at least we thought we could. That was our first mistake."  
"After the timeline was reset, something changed in our society. It became... hostile," Donald paused and looked away from the cousins. Astrid sensed his distress and gave a squeeze to his hand, urging him to go on.  
"We failed to notice it in the beginning, since we spent so much of our time travelling through history. When we finally realized that something was not right, it was too late. The members of the original science team were detained and the tech was taken from them. They started producing the tech in mass quantities to form an army to invade the past."  
"I managed to escape, bringing Michael - the child observer - with me. After that I asked your grandfather to help me remove the tech. I knew how to extract it safely as that was what was originally planned after our task was complete."

Eddie sighed, "There's something I don't understand. If your society changed after the timeline reset, weren't you guys supposed to change too?"  
"The tech prevented that from happening. It allowed us to be outside time itself. That is why we were not affected by the reset and remained the same while our society changed." Donald took a deep breath, remembering their role in resetting the timeline which always brought feelings of regret and anguish.

"The irony is that we were the ones who provoked the reset. Like I explained before we were also the ones who accidentally distracted Peter Bishop's biological father, preventing him from finding a cure to Peter's illness, thus altering the timeline in the first place. Our mission was to observe, not to intervene, but since we were responsible for the change, we took upon our selfs to correct it."  
"We studied the way to restore the correct path to the timeline. We factored several different events to try to reach the desirable outcome. The one that gave us more guaranties of achieving our goal was to reset the timeline and erase Peter Bishop from it after he fulfilled his function, so we secretly altered the Wave Sync machine programming in order to do so."  
Donald gave a sad smile, almost apologetic. "Now I know that we were wrong."

* * *

Dinner went by with Donald giving further details about his original peaceful mission, how he became fascinated with Walter and later on, the original Fringe Team.  
Etta saw it as an opportunity, having two people in front of her with first-hand knowledge about her parents, she grabbed the chance asking multiple questions about them. Astrid and Donald were able to provide answers to questions she'd wondered about and held on to her entire life. Etta felt she was getting a part of them back, when earlier hope had been fading, she had begun to believe would be lost to her forever. It was exhilarating.

"My God, I haven't had a meal like this in like... forever!" Etta said both amazed by the food they had just eaten, but also by the feast of information she had received from Donald and Astrid.  
Eddie nodded in agreement. "You bet, usually we only get the God damned food supplements".  
"Actually, that was also food supplements, but I manage to make it look and taste like real food - with a few tricks of my own." Astrid said with a smile.  
Etta got up, picking up the plates, smiling back at Astrid.  
There was a brief lull in the conversation as they began clearing the dishes and Etta's mind once began swirling with everything she had learnt over the course of the evening. She couldn't help but pursue the topic further. "Ok, let me get this straight. You are saying that because of the timeline reset, something changed in the Observers DNA, causing them to become hostile and you believe that the mutation you found is responsible for that?"  
"Yes, that is correct. I hypothesise that there was an event in the new timeline that caused the mutation. An unknown event that did not take place in the original timeline." Donald answered while helping Etta cleaning up the table.  
"That's interesting, but still I don't see how it can be useful. It's not like we can develop a vaccine or some biological weapon to reverse the mutation. We don't have the means for that. And even if we did, it would be impossible to find a way to administer it to every Observer."  
"That's not our plan Etta," Astrid replied heading for the kitchen with Eddie and Etta in tow.  
"You have a plan?"  
"Yes. Before your grandfather died, he became obsessed with the idea of finding a way to travel into the past, to the original timeline. He thought that if he stopped himself from crossing over to the other universe, none of this would have happened." Astrid paused and tried to take the plates from Etta. "Let me take care of that, sweetie. You are our guests, sit down while Donald and I take care of the dishes."  
"Please Aunt Astrid, we're used to it, let's us help you." Etta gave Astrid a smile positioning herself with Eddie in front of the sink.  
"You better let her do this, she can be really stubborn," Eddie said chuckling.  
"I wonder where she got that from," Astrid smiled rolling her eyes. She finally indulged Etta and took a towel to dry the dishes. "Ok, you two take care of the washing, I'll dry."  
"You were saying that my grandfather wanted to travel to the past?" Etta prompted.  
"Yes. We tried to talk him out of it, but once your grandfather got something in his mind, there was nothing we could do." Astrid smiled fondly with the memory of Walter's antics and stubbornness. No wonder Etta turned out that way too. Being the daughter of Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop and the granddaughter of Walter Bishop, stubbornness was more than a trait, it was a requirement.  
"Did he manage to do it?"  
"No, but he was close. Donald thinks that we was on the right path, but there was something he was missing."  
Donald had joined them with the rest of the dishes. "My tech. I kept it hidden in a safe place all these years. He asked me about it but I told him I had destroyed it. At the time I believed that your grandfather's assumption about travelling to the original timeline would be dangerous and would not prevent this future from happening."  
He took the dishes that Astrid had dried and started putting them away in the kitchen cabinets.  
"He believed that the timeline had not actually been 'reset', but that it was in reality overlapped by the new one. He posited that the original timeline still exists in the space-time continuum. According to Walter, if one could travel to the past in this timeline to a point where the previous timeline had existed, with my tech, it would be possible to access it."

He stopped the task he was doing and took a holographic notepad from one of the drawers of the kitchen cabinet. "To better explain Walter's theory, I can draw a diagram."  
Etta and Eddie paused, paying attention to what Donald was doing.  
He took the notepad and drew with is finger a horizontal single line in the centre, it began in the left margin and ended in the middle of the notepad.  
"Imagine this line as a layer, representing the original timeline. Here, where it ends," he said pointing to the end of the line and making a small circle emphasizing the end "This is where Peter Bishop was erased after stepping out of the wave sync machine."  
He then made a new line above the other one, beginning also in the left margin and ran parallel to it, but continuing until the end of the notepad.  
"This is the new timeline, created after the reset. It is the layer that replaced the old one, overlapping it. It is also the timeline we are experiencing now." He drew a small circle almost at the end of the new line. "This is the present. As you can see there is nothing under it, thus making it impossible to access the old timeline if we tried it from here."  
"Because the old timeline ended in the past?" Eddie interjected.  
"That is correct." Donald said with a smile, pleased that they were following.  
"Now if we managed to travel to the past in our timeline," he draws another small circle on the upper line at a point where the lines were parallel, just before the lower line ended. "Then in theory," he said making a small vertical arrow beginning in the circle he just added and ending in the lower line. "With my tech, one could access the original timeline."  
The cousins looked at him in awe.  
"We now believe that it is possible to go back to that timeline and prevent it from being reset. We have your grandfather's plans to build a device which will allow travel to such a point. We only need to retrieve my tech. But it will still be a dangerous journey."  
"That is... amazing!" Etta said excited about the unexpected turn of events. The idea of travelling in time to the past when her parents were alive was already taking over her mind.  
"There is something we also need to prevent the reset," Donald told them. "Access to the wave sync machine."  
Eddie frowned looking at Donald. "The wave sync machine, you keep mentioning it. Isn't that the same machine my uncle got into and used to form the bridge between the two universes which then wiped him from existence?"  
"That is correct." Donald replied  
"But why do you need access to it? Does it still exist?"  
Astrid, who was also paying attention to Donald's explanation, decided to intervene. "Yes, but it's in an unknown location. Right after the invasion our boss, Philip Broyles, ordered it to be disassembled. It was taken from Liberty Island to the headquarters of Massive Dynamic in New York, once dismantled it was to be hidden elsewhere. We were afraid that the Observers would use the machine to their advantage. With all the commotion in those days, we lost track of it. The only thing we are sure off is that it's no longer at Massive Dynamic's headquarters."  
Donald turned off the holographic notepad, storing it in a drawer. "The Observers had no interest in the machine, it was not important to them. But now it is to us."  
Eddie scratched his two day stubble, a tell-tale sign that he was thinking. "But it may not even exist anymore."  
"That is a possibility," Donald answered, "but I am confident that it still does." He paused for a few seconds, watching the two young cousins who were waiting for him to elaborate.  
"You see, the machine when dismantled is of no use. There's is nothing that can be done with its parts, unless you know what you are doing. Besides me and the Observers, there were only two other people that would know that. One is dead and the other one is on the Alternate Universe."  
"I see," Eddie nodded, understanding what Donald had implied.  
"The machine must be reprogrammed in order not to reset the timeline and to not erase Peter Bishop. To do so we only need one small piece of the machine which we would have to take to the past to replace the original component of the machine."  
"That is why we came back to Boston. To contact someone within the resistance and try to establish a relationship with someone we could trust, someone who might help us fulfil the plan. Simon Foster seemed like a good candidate, but that was before I saw you."  
Etta and Eddie shared a look. "First thing in the morning, we're talking to Simon," Etta said. Just a few hours before she had lost all hope. Now she felt more determined and sure that a better future was possible.  
For the first time after meeting Donald she gave a smile that reached her winter blue eyes.

* * *

**A/N Hope it wasn't too confusing.**  
**As always, big thanks go to Crystaline Green, once again she did the impossible, managed to turn my crappy writing into something bearable to read. **


End file.
